Alkali activated material has recently attracted great attention as an environmentally friendly building material. Generally, it exhibits higher mechanical properties and better durability when compared with Portland cement based materials. In this article, mixed alkali activated systems consisting of N-A-S-H and C-A-S-H hydrated gels were produced, using metakaolin as a dominated starting mate...

Studies on actinobacterial diversity in limestone habitats are scarce. This paper reports profiling of actinobacteria isolated from Hundung limestone samples in Manipur, India using ARDRA as the molecular tool for preliminary classification. A total of 137 actinobacteria were clustered into 31 phylotypic groups based on the ARDRA pattern generated and representative of each group was subjected ...

The unsaturated zone is a critical component of karstic groundwater systems and shown to provide substantial storage capacities. Understanding the spatial patterns controls on flow path activation often challenge. Previous research focused remotely sensed data or inferential analyses quantify these patterns. Here, we use two cave systems—one in Arizona, USA second Kentucky, USA—to show value su...

In this study we describe the first apterous species of Endecous Saussure (1878), collected in two caves at Ituaçu, Bahia State, Brazil. In Brazil, Endecous is the most widespread cricket in hypogean environments and its species can colonize caves and inhabit the entrance and the aphotic zones; Endecous species can also be found in the litter, rock gullies, crevices, burrows, and any natural ca...

The carnivorous sponge Asbestopluma hypogea, was known only from shallow submarine caves (-15 to -26 m) in the Western Mediterranean Sea and the Adriatic. Herein A. hypogea is reported from outside of caves, on seamounts in the Alboran Sea (-167 m), off the Balearics (-100 m) and north off Sicily (-660 m), and along steep bathyal escarpments in the Strait of Sicily (~700 m). These deeper ROV-ba...